Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, a six minute film produced in Ireland, has been nominated for best animated short film in the 2010 Academy Awards. The film, online at www.grannyogrimm.com, tells the story of a seemingly sweet old lady who terrifies her little granddaughter at bedtime with her dark version of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. Granny O’Grimm started life as a character in Kathleen O’Rourke’s comedy show. Director Nicky Phelan saw Granny O’Grimm’s potential as an animated character and, working with Brown Bag Films, production began in 2008. Kathleen O’Rourke reprised her role to voice the character in the short film.

Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube

Granny O’Grimm, when asked about her response to the Oscar nomination, was not impressed. “An Academy Award nomination is not going to boil the potatoes now is it?”. However, when asked about how she’ll take to the red carpet, she was more effusive about the fashion opportunity involved: “I’ll maybe restrict myself to one chocolate gateau a day for the moment – so I can wear the frock that I bought for my husband’s funeral. It has only one stain, I never could get the pink champagne mark out”.

Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube

Granny O’Grimm’s media profile has grown exponentially in recent months. While unhappy that the media may be sticking their nose into her business (and lodging official complaints to that effect), her following has expanded with over 1325 fans on Facebook and over 680 followers (including Jackie Collins) on Twitter. Her personal brand of pessimism and pernicious advice is proving very popular across the globe.

Over 70,000 people have watched Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty via the internet, and over 22,000 people viewed her acerbic Christmas greetings to the world online. Her hairstyle was recently compared to Jedward’s by the Irish media and she was cited as “One to Watch in 2010” by the Irish Times. Neither reference impressed her.

Click on the image below to play the Christmas video in YouTube

Credits and Awards

‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ received funding from the Irish Film Board, RTE and the Arts Council through the ‘Frameworks’ scheme. It has received 11 national and international awards including the Newport Beach Film Festival (Outstanding Achievement in Short Films), Cinegael Montreal (Audience Award, Best Short) and the Heart of Gold Film Festival, Australia (Best Comedy)

Brown Bag Films was previously nominated in 2002 for the short film ‘Give Up Yer Aul Sins®’.

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